News Main Menu

ABC Nightline taped a special segment titled "Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event" earlier this month with a student audience at Penn State's Pavilion Theatre. The special is scheduled to air nationally this week on ABC.

Image: ABC NEWS JEFF NEIRA

Air date change: Penn State to be featured on ABC Nightline special

February 23, 2016

Air date change: Penn State to be featured on ABC Nightline special

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State will be featured early Friday morning in an ABC Nightline special segment called “Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event.”

Penn State was approached as a host university by the television network because of the work that the University invested in the President’s Task Force on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment last year and other efforts the University community has taken and continues to take surrounding the topic of sexual assault.

ABC Nightline organized and taped a panel discussion about consensual sex and the national issue of sexual assault on college campuses in front of a student audience on Feb. 10 at Penn State's University Park campus. The ABC special will be featured on Nightline’s Thursday, Feb. 25, late-night broadcast, which airs at 12:35 a.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 26.

The conversation will continue on social media (@Nightline and @penn_state) using the hashtag #ConsentOnCampus.

Here's a look behind the scenes with ABC Nightline as the network produces "Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event" — a special report about the national issue of sexual assault on college campuses, taped with a Penn State student audience.

A production team from ABC Television prepares for a taping of the late-night news program "Nightline" at Penn State's Pavilion Theatre. The pre-recorded program, titled "Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event," will air this week.

A look behind the scenes as final preparations were made for a taped production of the ABC news program "Nightline" at Penn State's Pavilion Theatre on Feb. 10. A special segment called "Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event" was taped in front of a live student audience and will air this week.

Penn State hosted a special ABC Nightline production titled "Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event" on Feb 10 in the Pavilion Theater. The panel discussion about the national issue of sexual assault on college campuses will air this week on ABC.

Nightline anchor Juju Chang moderates the taping of "Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event" on Feb. 10 at Penn State's Pavilion Theatre. The special, featuring a Penn State student audience, will air nationally this week.

Image: ABC NEWS JEFF NEIRA

Moderated by anchor Juju Chang, “Consent on Campus: A Nightline Event” brings together people with unique perspective on this issue. Panelists include Ian Tolino, known on college campuses as “consent bro” for his peer-to-peer education; Tove Danovich, who says she froze up during a sexual assault her freshman year in college; C.D. Mock, a concerned father and a vocal critic of the effectiveness of the consent movement after his son was accused of sexual assault; Kim Lau, a defense attorney who specializes in college disciplinary cases; and Dr. Cheryl Arutt, a clinical psychologist who has been helping sexual assault victims recover from trauma for more than 20 years.

The discussion also included an improv performance called “Sex Signals” from Catharsis Productions, a group that travels the country using humor and improvisation to act out scenarios as a creative and thought-provoking way to teach students about consent.

Since Penn State President Eric Barron endorsed all 18 recommendations presented by the sexual assault task force last year, 10 action steps have been put into place and eight more are in progress. The action steps range from creating new positions and mandatory training, to a climate survey and a required educational programming for all first-year students.